Florida State concludes the final week of the regular season with two games beginning Tuesday night versus Jacksonville. FSU leads the all-time series with JU 10-1 and has won eight straight meetings. Florida State has scored three or more goals in every meeting between the teams since 1999 and last season’s 7-0 FSU win, was the most lopsided result in the series since 1996 when FSU won 11-0. In the last two seasons Florida State has outscored the Dolphins 12-0. The last time Florida State lost to Jacksonville was in 1998 when the Dolphins upended FSU 2-1 in Tallahassee. Since that game FSU has gone on to out score JU 34-5. In the 11 all-time meetings, FSU has shutout the Dolphins five times. After recording back-to-back 11-0 wins in the first two series meetings, FSU recorded just one shutout in the next seven meetings. The last two times the teams have met FSU has not allowed JU to score and the Dolphins goal-less streak versus FSU is now at 257:57. Jacksonville and Florida State have played every season since 1995 when both schools began their soccer programs. JU is one of only two non-conference teams FSU has played for 12 straight seasons and outside of ACC foes, FSU has more games versus Jacksonville than any other school with the exception of Florida.

HEATING UP

Hermann Trophy candidate Selin Kuralay is heating up at the perfect time for Florida State. With three goals this past week, Kuralay now has four goals in four games for the second time this season. With her two goals versus Wake Forest Kuralay became the first Seminole this season to record a multi-goal game. Last season that happened nine times. In 2005 Kuralay scored 10 goals in the first nine games of the season as her FSU career got off to a tremendous start. After that she scored five goals in the final eight regular season games. Kuralay seems like she is heating up at the right time in 2006. After recording five goals in the first nine games of this season, Kuralay has now scored five in the last seven games with two regular season matches still to go.

10-10 CLUB

Selin Kuralay is making quite a mark on the Seminole record books in just two seasons in Tallahassee. The Seminole midfielder is already re-writing the FSU record books when it comes to career stats even though she has played just 40 games. Kuralay’s goal versus Duke was her 10th of the season making her just the second player in school history to ever record 10 or more goals in back-to-back seasons. Kuralay joins former FSU great Cindy Schofield in that rarified air. In 2001 and 2002 Schofield recorded 17 and 15 goals making her the only Seminole with 15 goals in back-to-back seasons. With her 16 goals last year Kuralay has a chance to match Schofield in that category as well. The Australian’s rise up the career record books is nothing short of phenomenal. She is already sixth all-time for points, fourth for goals, first for game-winning goals and fifth for shots attempted. In just two seasons Kuralay is already only two goals shy of moving into a tie for second place on the all-time goal scorers list.

Kuralay isn’t just threatening the career records she is doing the same thing when it comes to the all-time records in ACC play. With a monstrous week last week versus Wake and Duke, Kuralay upped her ACC goal total to five making her the first Seminole in school history to ever score five ACC goals in any two seasons. While there are more ACC games after the conference expansion, Kuralay’s production is still amazing. The junior is now one goal away from tying the career mark and four points away from first in that category. In just 18 ACC matches she is already the all-time leader in ACC game-winning goals, tied for the all-time lead in multi-goal games and first all-time for shots.

40-FIED

Ali Mims passed a pretty big milestone Thursday when FSU knocked off No. 9 Wake Forest. The senior keeper picked up the 40th win of her career, becoming the only Seminole keeper to ever reach that mark. What is even more amazing is that earlier this season Mims became the only FSU keeper to ever win 30 games in her career. She is now 14 victories ahead of her nearest competitor when it comes to wins by a goalkeeper. In the four seasons in which Ali has been eligible to play, she has accounted for 58% of the 69 wins amassed by the Seminoles during that stretch. What makes that stat even more impressive is that in 2004 she may have been eligible that year but she was not any where near fully recovered and appeared in just three games. In those three other seasons she accounted for 39 of Florida State’s 57 wins. Mims not only picked up her 40th victory but she also became the first Seminole keeper to surpass 5000 minutes in net this past weekend.

NOT LIKE US AT ALL

This past week was an odd one for the Seminole defense. The FSU backline and senior keeper Ali Mims have been the unquestioned strength of the team in 2006. The team was in the midst of a record-breaking season. Heading into the Wake Forest game Florida State had allowed only seven goals in its 14 games and they were threatening to absolutely shatter the previous best numbers for goals allowed and goals allowed average. The best regular season ever for Florida State in terms of goals allowed was last year when Florida State surrender just 13 regular season goals. The only other time FSU has given up fewer than 20 goals in regular season play was in 2003 when the team surrendered just 19. That was all good and well until Wake Forest and Duke combined to score five goals in two games versus FSU upping their season goal total from seven to 12 in just two matches. Wake Forest scored two second half goals on FSU equaling the total amount of second half goals Florida State had allowed all season in 14 previous matches and then Duke went out and one upped Wake by scoring three second half goals Sunday. In two games FSU gave up more than twice as many second half goals than they had allowed in 14 previous matches. Duke became the first team this season to score three goals on FSU and the first squad to do that since the 2005 College Cup when UCLA scored four times. The last time a team scored three or more goals versus FSU in the regular season was North Carolina in 2005 when the Heels beat Florida State 4-1. The last time FSU gave up three or more goals in a regular season game to a team other than the Tar Heels was 2003 when Virginia beat FSU 3-2 58 games ago. The good news is that Florida State is still in the running to allow the fewest regular season goals ever but they would need to post two shutouts in the final two games to set that mark or allow just one goal to tie it.

OPPOSITE ENDS

It is hard to imagine back-to-back games that could have been more opposite for the Seminoles than what took place on the final road trip of the season. Florida State started things so well with a 3-2 victory over No. 9 Wake Forest only to get upset by No. 23 Duke 3-1 in the worst regular season loss for FSU in 25 games. On Thursday night FSU staged two comebacks from 1-0 and 2-1 down to win that game. On Sunday Duke came from 1-0 down to score three goals and beat FSU. In the first game of the road swing FSU recorded its first ever victory over Wake Forest in Winston-Salem. In game two the Seminoles dropped to 0-4-2 lifetime versus Duke in Durham. FSU extended its unbeaten streak to eight games with the win over Wake, one short of tying the school record, only to see Duke snap that run. For the first time all season FSU scored two or more goals in three straight games with three versus Wake Forest. Duke ended that streak as well limiting FSU to one goal Sunday.

IT WAS A SPECIAL NIGHT

Despite a sour ending to Florida State’s final road trip, the Seminoles’ Thursday night victory in Winston-Salem was a pretty special one. First of all it was the first win for FSU in Winston-Salem versus the Deacons in program history and just the fourth regular season win for FSU in the state of North Carolina. In five previous games versus Wake at Spry Stadium the Seminoles were just 0-4-1. Second, it was just the sixth comeback in program history from 2-1 down and just the third ever when trailing 2-1 versus an ACC opponent. Third, the victory marked the 200th win of Mark Krikorian’s collegiate coaching career. Fourth, the game-winning goal was scored by Libby Gianeskis who not only had never scored a game-winner in her three year career but she had never scored a goal either.

WE’RE BACK BABY

This 2006 Seminoles haven’t had it quite as easy as their College Cup predecessors from a year ago. Last season FSU had a similar record to this year’s 12-2-2 mark through 16 games at 14-2 but that is where the similarities end. This year FSU has just one win by more than a goal compared to 13 last season. In the 2005 regular season FSU averaged outscoring its opponents 3-1 this year that number is down to 2-1. In 2005 FSU scored three or more goals 12 times in 18 regular season games, this year the team has done that just twice. In 2006 Florida State has scored more than two goals in consecutive games just three times. Last year FSU did that 11 times. With FSU playing so many close games this season, this team is doing something that the 2005 squad didn’t have to do and that is comeback to win games and excel in close contests. With the Seminoles 3-2 win over Wake Forest Florida State improved to 8-1 this season in one-goal games. This is the fourth time in the last six seasons FSU has played at least nine games decided by a goal or less. The first three times came in 2000, 2002 and 2004. In those three seasons FSU went 22-12 for a .647 winning percentage compared to this year where the Seminoles have won 89% of those games. The Seminoles haven’t just shown their toughness in one-goal games they have also proven themselves with come-from-behind victories. Four times this season FSU has rallied from 1-0 down to win a game. FSU has staged comeback wins versus Portland, Virginia Tech, Stetson and Wake Forest. This is the most come-from-behind wins for an FSU team since the 2001 squad had five comeback victories and it is tied for the second-most comeback wins ever.

Comeback Wins

2001 5

2006 4

2000 4

2005 3

2004 2

2003 2

2002 2

1998 2

1997 1

1996 1

NOW SHE HAS DONE IT ALL

A lot of Seminole coaches, players and fans would like to forget what happened in the Duke game this past week as the Blue Devils snapped Florida State’s eight game unbeaten streak. One very memorable moment did come out of the bitter loss though. With the Seminoles trailing by a goal with just under six minutes left head coach

Mark Krikorian put Kelly Rowland into the goal in an attempt to equalize the game with another field player who also could play in the net. Coming into 2006, Rowland had started 71 consecutive games, every match of her career, in the back line and almost all of those as a center back. This year she has played up top, in the midfield and now as a goalie. That gives Rowland the ultimate distinction of the only Seminole player in school history to play as a forward, midfielder, defender and keeper in her career and she did it all in one season.

LET’S START ANOTHER

Mark Krikorian’s Florida State tenure has been one of impressive win streaks. Although the Seminoles lost to Duke on Sunday,

the team was unbeaten in the previous eight games, which was the second-longest unbeaten streak in school history. The amount of wins streaks and unbeaten streaks established in just two seasons under Krikorian in simply astonishing. The three longest win streaks in school history have all come under his guidance, the three longest unbeaten streaks, the two longest win streaks to start a season, the two longest unbeaten streaks to start a season, the longest home unbeaten streak, the longest road win streak and road unbeaten streak, the longest ACC wins streak and the two longest ACC unbeaten streaks have all been established over the last two seasons. Pretty impressive stuff considering Krikorian hasn’t even completed his second season at Florida State.

KRIKORIAN’S STREAKS

All-Time Win Streaks

9 2005

7 2005

6 2006

All-Time Unbeaten Streaks

9 2005

8 2006

7 2005

7 2000

All-Time Win Streaks (start a season)

7 2005

6 2006

All-Time Unbeaten Streaks (start a season)

7 2005

6 2006

Home Unbeaten Streak

14 2005-2006

11 2003-2004

ACC Unbeaten Streak

7 2005

7 2006

NOT THE ONLY ONE

Duke’s 3-1 victory over FSU didn’t just snap an unbeaten streak for FSU it ended quite a few of Mark Krikorian’s amazing streaks since taking over at Florida State.

The Duke loss was the first time in 21 matches that a Krikorian coached FSU team lost a day game. Previous to the Blue Devil match, FSU teams were 19-0-1 in day games under the Seminole coach. It was also the first loss for Krikorian at Florida State when his team was leading at the half. Before Duke, FSU was 14-0-1 when going into the locker room with the lead under Krikorian. Even more amazingly is the streak that was snapped when FSU scores first in a match. Under Krikorian the Seminoles were 24-0-1 when scoring first before the Duke game. Lastly, it was the first loss for a Seminole team in the month of October under Krikorian. FSU was 13-0-1 in October before this past Sunday’s loss. The loss also defied one other major trend. For the first time in 11 games the Seminoles lost a game when Selin Kuralay scored the game’s first goal. FSU was 10-0 when the Australian staked the Seminoles to a 1-0 lead.